AFL premiership star Cyril Rioli has lodged a statement of claim in the Federal Court against his former team, Hawthorn, alleging he and other First Nations players and their wives endured racism during their time at the club.

The claim was lodged on behalf of Rioli, his wife, Shannyn AhSam-Rioli, and two other former players, Carl Peterson and Jermaine Miller-Lewis, his wife Montanah, and the club’s former Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Leon Egan.

The ABC understands the group will be alleging breaches of the Racial Discrimination Act by the Hawthorn Football Club.

Hawthorn Football Club president Andy Gowers said the club would continue to “work towards a resolution in a fair and timely manner for all parties”.

“The Federal Court process will importantly give Hawthorn Football Club the opportunity to respond to these allegations.”

“Given the matter is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate to make any kind of comment that could impact on that process.”

Asked about the Federal Court action, current Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, who as a player shared four premierships with Cyril Rioli, said: “What I hope happens is everyone feels heard and that we can get to the end of this process with a bit more clarity than we have now.”

The court action comes after mediation between the group and the club at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) broke down earlier this year.

The mediation was arranged to address historic allegations of systemic mistreatment at Hawthorn of First Nations players at the club — as reported by the ABC in the 2022 grand final week.

Those allegations were laid out in an internal cultural safety review commissioned by Hawthorn, which considered allegations against former coach Alistair Clarkson, assistant coach and football manager Chris Fagan and the club’s welfare manager, Jason Burt

Clarkson, Fagan and the Hawthorn Football Club have been contacted for comment regarding the Federal Court action.

In an interview with The Age in May 2023, Jason Burt said he has “nothing to say sorry for”.

Clarkson, now coach of North Melbourne, Fagan, who coaches Brisbane, and Burt have consistently denied they did anything wrong and rejected accusations of racism.

Other First Nations players who contributed to the internal review did not take part in the AHRC mediation and are not party to the Federal Court action.

An AFL investigation into the allegations raised by the internal review ended without any findings last year.

In a statement released after the investigation, the AFL said it “acknowledges each one of the Complainants feels hurt, pain and anguish following their time at the Hawthorn FC”.

“The AFL knows that during the long history of our game there have been instances of racism and that players have been marginalised, hurt or discriminated against because of their race and for that we say sorry,” the statement also said.